Flying

The wait for tables is getting longer at Buck's, a popular breakfast spot for the tech elite and a weather vane for the Silicon Valley economy. Here, like everywhere else, Facebook is the talk of the town. "Charles Schwab was in the restaurant the other day, and I asked him to hook me up with some Facebook shares," said Jamis MacNiven, owner of Buck's, in the wealthy suburban enclave of Woodside. "He told me even he can't get Facebook shares. " The new tech boom officially gets underway Friday when Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg rings Nasdaq's opening bell remotely from the company's Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters, launching the largest initial public offering of stock in Silicon Valley history.

As travelers gear up for Memorial Day, families flying coach on United Airlines who don't have "elite" flier status may need to pack an extra dose of patience. United has dropped the “families can board first” do-si-do from its boarding process. "We figured it would be better to simplify that process and reduce the number of boarding groups," United spokesman Charles Hobart told CNN. If you and your family are flying first- or business-class, you can board early. United isn't the only airline that doesn't give families priority.

Hard-core Harry Potter fans who devoured the books, camped out for the movies and trekked through the theme park now have a new way to relive the boy wizard's adventures. PHOTOS: Making of Harry Potter studio tour Debuting Saturday, the Making of Harry Potter behind-the-scenes tour at theWarner Bros.studios in England will let wizards, mudbloods and muggles pull back the curtain on the movie-making secrets of the most successful film series of all time. Located 20 miles outside of London, the three-hour self-guided tour will take visitors past sets, props, costumes, models and special effects exhibits from the eight "Harry Potter" movies.

You absolutely have, have, have to get up at 6 a.m. - for a meeting at work, a flight to Paris, a casting call for your dog to be in a Fido's Faves commercial. But you worry. You don't trust yourself. You've snored through alarms before. Fear not. There are gadgeteers out there who've got your back. Some examples: Math Alarm Clock: An Android app that plays music you've chosen to wake up to. That might sound a tad sleep-through-able for a hard-core zzz-ster, except that it plays and plays and plays the music until you come up with the right answer to a math problem.

Bob Kahl slips in through a side door of the vast, abandoned hangar and looks at what's left of the assembly plant where he worked for nearly 40 years. He remembers the hum of power tools, the biting aroma of cutting oil, swarms of workers plugging away on a labyrinth of yellow scaffolding. All that's left is a few piles of broken concrete and a sea of colorless dust that coats a Palmdale factory floor the size of two football fields. "Welcome to the birthplace of America's space shuttle fleet," said Kahl, 60, smiling.

Chris Pronger was born 35 years ago today, a few months after the Philadelphia Flyers won the first of two straight Stanley Cup championships. They haven't won the Cup since. Acquiring Pronger, a versatile, minute-gobbling defenseman with a mean streak as deep as he is tall, could go a long way toward ending that drought. Pronger was a vital part of the Ducks' 2007 Cup team, but his contract was due to expire after this season and they didn't want to be shackled with a long extension.

Re "Grasping to Overcome Her Fear of Flying," Voices, Dec. 15: Thanks to Jean Perry for actually being "normal." I suspect she was afraid to fly before Sept. 11, but now it's socially acceptable to admit it. We need to acknowledge our frailties as well as nurturing our strengths. Carol A. Johnson La Jolla

June 14 was National Flag Day. The only flag I saw flying in my neighborhood was the one on my own front porch. An English friend of mine who wishes to become a United States citizen asked me where he could purchase one to put proudly on his porch, and was amazed when I told him I didn't know. At Thanksgiving we have all the turkeys we could pray for, at Christmas we have all the Santa Clauses we could hope for, at the Fourth of July we have all the fireworks we could kill for, so why don't we have American flags for Flag Day?

We Californians are good at passing laws to prevent the inhuman treatment of animals. Why don't we do something to prevent the inhuman treatment of humans? After a couple of recent round-trip shuttle flights between LAX and Oakland, I can't believe that we allow ourselves to be sardined into the cramped, torturous spaces that would be illegal if they were shipping animals! Let's have a proposition that requires a minimum-size, comfortable seat in planes flying in California airspace.

Loyalty programs for airlines, hotels and other travel services generally are free. But whether you want to be bothered signing up for one might depend on what you get in return. JetBlue Airways is offering a buy one/get one free airline ticket to selected cities for every TrueBlue member -- new or enrolled -- who flies from Long Beach to Alaska. The deal: Existing and newly enrolled TrueBlue members will see the Alaska and You Shall Receive promotion on the website.

Mariano Rivera tore a ligament in his right knee before the New York Yankees lost, 4-3, to the Kansas City Royals on Thursday night. The 42-year-old right-hander was carted off the field at Kansas City after twisting his right knee shagging fly balls during batting practice. Manager Joe Girardi revealed the severity of the injury after the game. Royals team doctor Vincent Key diagnosed a torn anterior cruciate ligament after looking at the MRI. Baseball's career saves leader was tracking down a ball hit by Jayson Nix in deep center field when his right knee appeared to buckle a step before the wall.

MAMMOTH LAKES - On the banks of a jutting little river, I'm trying to think like a trout thinks: Did I pay the mortgage on time? When do the Kings play next? Whatever happened to that sassy Helen Hunt? No, wait, those are my thoughts. Then, WHAM, something takes the lure and I'm officially a fly fisherman. Constantly looking for an activity where my deficiencies aren't quite so apparent, something outdoors where I don't have to run a lot, or strip down to my skivvies, or maintain eye contact for more than a moment, I am drawn now to fly fishing, not so much a sport as a Christopher Guest movie.

Some of the nation's top aviators are refusing to fly the radar-evading F-22 Raptor, a fighter jet with ongoing problems with the oxygen systems that have plagued the fleet for four years. At the risk of significant reprimand - or even discharge from the Air Force - fighter pilots are turning down the opportunity to climb into the cockpit of the F-22, the world's most expensive fighter jet. The Air Force did not reveal how many of its 200 F-22 pilots, who are stationed at seven military bases across the country, declined their assignment orders.

WASHINGTON — Police departments across the country have bought inexpensive small drone aircraft with cameras to help track drug dealers, find missing children and locate wandering Alzheimer's patients, but federal rules designed to protect the nation's airspace have kept them grounded. That is about to change in a dramatic way. Under a law President Obama signed in February, the Federal Aviation Administration must write rules by May 14 on how it will license police, fire department and other public safety agencies eager to fly lightweight drones at low altitudes.

Privacy issues Re "Cyber security overkill," Editorial, April 24 The Times expressed the same concerns I have with the cyber security legislation the House will consider Thursday. It is imperative that we balance our desire for security with our right to privacy. That is why I'm working across the aisle, with Republican Rob Woodall of Georgia, to make it easier for Americans to bring legal action against the federal government if it uses personal information in a negligent manner.

Members of the International Submarine Band chose a name for their new group that practically ensured it would never rise above cult status, and sure enough, that band disappeared with barely a trace after making a handful of recordings in the mid-1960s. But after ISB members Gram Parsons and Chris Ethridge teamed up with ex-Byrds singer and songwriter Chris Hillman and steel guitarist Pete Kleinow, the pioneering country-rock group the Flying Burrito Brothers was born and the ISB won permanent footnote status in the history of pop music.

The City Section championship game in high school baseball is a little more than a month away at Dodger Stadium, but there was a playoff-like atmosphere Monday in a Valley Mission League game between San Fernando and host Granada HIlls Kennedy. "It was a typical San Fernando-Kennedy rivalry game," San Fernando Coach Armando Gomez said. "Everybody's fired up. " In the end, a pitchers' duel into the seventh inning was broken up by Steven Campos' run-scoring single and a sacrifice fly by Carlos Robles, giving San Fernando (23-4, 9-0)